Locals on receiving end of 'Caller ID spoofing'

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When Leominster resident Rod Schaffter picked up the phone after checking his caller ID, he expected to hear his father speak. Instead, the voice on the other end of the line was likely part of a scam.

"I have long checked the caller ID, and I actually picked the first one up, thinking it was my father, who is also Rodney," he said.

The voice did not belong to his dad. He took another look at the caller ID and realized the phone number calling him was somehow his own.

The practice, called "caller ID spoofing," has increased in the past several months, often using pre-existing phone numbers without the owner's knowledge, Leominster Interim Police Chief Michael Goldman said.

"Not only have I gotten calls at the department, I've gotten calls myself," he said, adding not even his department-issued phone or the police's dispatch center are immune from the rings of scam calls.

The spoofed numbers disguise the call's real origin, making the caller seem more legitimate and encouraging the person who picks up to give personal information or money, according to the state Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.

Sometimes the call appears to be from the receiver's own line. Other times the call has only the area code and subsequent three digits in common with the receiver's number, making it appear as if the caller is local.

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At first glance, for Schaffter, who volunteers with the Boy Scouts, these calls look like parents or Scouts trying to reach him.

Dawn Dionne, who lives in Leominster, is caught on the other side of the issue.

Though she received a fair number of calls from what she believes are spoofed numbers, it appears her own cell-phone number has been spoofed, probably multiple times.

"It's happened three times and people (calling me) say the same thing: 'I'm returning your call,' " she said.

But Dionne said she never called them, and her phone's call log backs it up. She believes someone else, probably a scammer, is using her number to ring these people.

"We're just afraid someone is going to get scammed and somehow we're going to get thrown into the mix of this because of our phone number being used," she said.

Goldman said the department is aware of the rash of spoof calls, but the issue requires a technical solution, beyond the resources of a local police department.

"These are technical issues that at some point the mobile phone companies are going to have to solve," he said.

According to Goldman, many of the calls are made from outside the United States, further complicating any investigation.

Capt. Harry Hess of the Fitchburg Police Department said the department has received few reports of the issue, though he believes not many reach out to the police about the calls.

"You just treat it like telemarketing, " he said.

One of the easiest steps to defend against these scams is to avoid giving out personal information to someone who has called you, according to the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.

The state agency also recommends reverse searching the phone number, contacting the organization the caller claims to represent and never trusting caller ID.

For smartphone users, apps that claim to block some of these calls, like Nomorobo, are also available.

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